The Raft of The Medusa
After months of continuous rain all coastal areas of the UK are flooded. Bella and Jude are marooned on their flooded farm, cut off from any contact with the world outside.
Set in the near future. After months of continuous rain all coastal areas of the UK are flooded. Bella and Jude are marooned on their farm, and their supplies are getting low.
Simon Armitage and film-maker Richard Heslop were inspired to collaborate as a tribute to the film maker Derek Jarman, who died of AIDS in 1994. Shortly before his death, Jarman was considering making a film based on Theodore Gericault's The Raft of the Medusa (1819) which depicts a group of desperate men, abandoned on a raft at sea. He wrote about it in his notebook and discussed ideas with collaborators, but the film was never made. Taking clues from Jarman, Armitage鈥檚 radio drama is also inspired by flood and isolation. Heslop also worked as Jarman's cinematographer and here creates a film which uses the radio drama as a soundtrack. He is inspired by Jarman's passion for painting and colour as well as Armitage's script. The music is by another of Jarman鈥檚 collaborators, Simon Fisher Turner.
A Cast Iron Radio and Film London Artists鈥� Moving Image Network production. Supported by Arts Council England.
Simon Armitage
Simon Armitage was born in West Yorkshire and is Professor of Poetry at the University of Sheffield. A recipient of numerous prizes and awards, he has published 10 collections of poetry, including Selected Poems (2001), Seeing Stars (2010), his acclaimed translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (2007) and more recently The Death of King Arthur (2012). A broadcaster and presenter, he also writes extensively for television and radio, is the author of two novels and the best-selling memoir All Points North. In 2010 he received the CBE for services to poetry.
Richard Heslop
Richard Heslop graduated in 1984 from St. Martin鈥檚 School of Art film department with a BA honours in film/fine art. He became a cameraman on Derek Jarman's arthouse feature film The Garden (1990) and The Last of England. In 1991, he directed Floating for Channel 4, a 39-minute movie about a Docklands bus driver on the verge of a nervous breakdown, who has visions of a second 鈥楪reat Flood鈥�, and finally destroys his house in order to build an ark in his living room. This film was awarded Best Short Film in the Semaine de la Critique at the Cannes Film Festival in 1992. That same year, Richard Heslop joined Oil Factory - a prolific London-based production company for music videos and commercials. Richard has since been writing and developing feature film scripts as well as progressing his work in photography, illustration, video installation and his collection of unique conceptual art pieces. In 2010 Richard set up I Like Films, Me Ltd with producers Ciska Faulkner and Philip Shotton to produce the feature film Frank.
Simon Fisher Turner
Simon Fisher Turner became Artist In Residence at the ICA in 1980. While working as a driver for a management company in the early 1980s, Fisher Turner met film director Derek Jarman. Although he admits that, initially, he "had to ask people what to do", he composed soundtracks for Caravaggio, The Last Of England, The Garden and Edward II, and finally Blue, Jarman's last feature film before his death. He has also pursued a parallel pop path, recording as the King of Luxembourg for Creation, 脡l and Cherry Red Records in the 1980s, and latterly under the alias Loveletter.
Credits
| Role | Contributor |
|---|---|
| Filmmaker | Richard Heslop |
| Film Producer | Ciska Faulkner |
| Film Production | BloodSugar Films |
| Film Editor | Tracy Granger ACE |
| Writer | Simon Armitage |
| Director | Jeremy Mortimer |
| Sound Designer | Alisdair McGregor |
| Music | Simon Fisher Turner |
| Bella | Amaka Okafor |
| Jude | Catherine Cusack |
| Gregor | Gabriel Constantin |
